How One Tour Operator is Helping Usher in a New Era in Chinese Inbound Tourism

Chen is one of the National Tour Association’s growing number of tour operator members who deal in the inbound Chinese travel market. Chen joined NTA in 2009, soon after the association started its inbound China program based on a memo of understanding signed with the Chinese government in late 2007.

Chen joined NTA explicitly because of its China initiative, which has boosted NTA membership significantly. In five years since the initiation of the program, the number of NTA member tour operators dealing with the China inbound market has grown to 200, approximately a quarter of the entire tour operator membership.

The Chinese inbound market is growing at a blinding rate, with the number of Chinese visitors to the U.S. quadrupling from 320,000 in 2006 to 1.8 million in 2013. As China loosens its restrictions on outbound travel of its 1.4 billion citizens, and the country’s rising middle class gains the economic power to travel abroad, the growth potential of the Chinese tourism market is gigantic.

NTA has taken on the role of helping American tour operators, hoteliers and destination marketing organizations understand how they can get into the market and prosper there. In that endeavor, Chen is a valuable source of information and insight to the NTA.

Chen joined NTA’s tour operator community to learn more about the industry and enhance his own business skills and contacts. But he has found himself doing as much teaching as learning.

In late 2013, Chen was appointed by Paul Nakamoto, NTA chairman in 2014, to serve as director at large on the NTA board of directors.

“My being on the board shows that this whole China market is growing and NTA realizes it, and is trying to understand it,” said Chen. “Maybe my language capabilities, my years with NTA and what I do, plus the fact that I was with the China Inbound Task Force for many years have something to do with why I was appointed to the board.”

When it comes to the mushrooming Chinese tourism market, Chen brings a valuable perspective and insight to the organization. He speaks both Chinese and English fluently. He was born of Chinese ancestry in Taiwan (the Republic of China), spent his formative years in Chinese culture and moved to the U.S. at age 12.

He started his career in tourism as a tour guide in Washington D.C. 25 years ago at age 20. He worked as a tour guide for six or seven years, conducting tours for Chinese-speaking guests, mostly from Taiwan at first. As mainland China opened its doors for its citizens to travel abroad, Chen started to see them on his tours.

The first visitors from China were government officials or business groups. Gradually mainstream Chinese citizens began appearing. Chen moved to San Francisco in 1995 and continued in the same profession, guiding Chinese-speaking visitors to the U.S.

“I had the experience of meeting many people from China, including mayors and officials, such as the head of the department of education and the head of police, for example, in Nanjing and Beijing,” said Chen. “I had the opportunity to get to know officials in a close way during the time they were here. I learned a lot about them.”

Chen joined Joy Holidays in 1999. In 2004 he was promoted to general manager. Three years later the owner decided to sell the company. Chen and a partner arranged to purchase it in 2008.

Joy Holidays operates a broad range of tour services, including inbound, outbound and local tours, both FIT and group tours throughout western U.S., including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Las Vegas and Yellowstone, Grand Canyon, Yosemite national parks.

The operation has evolved from strictly Chinese language tours to bi-lingual tours, Chinese and English, and the clientele has expanded accordingly.

Bilingual tours were adopted “because of having more visitors who don’t speak Chinese, such as folks from India, folks from Southeast Asia and sometimes even Europe,” said Chen. “They find us somehow, mostly from online sources, and they join in. It’s interesting to be on these bus tours with different backgrounds and cultures.

“We have Chinese Americans like me who have been here for decades, maybe 30 or 40 years, or are residents of the USA. We have folks visiting from overseas, from China, Taiwan and Hong Kong, plus we have people from Singapore and Malaysia, sometimes Thailand or Vietnam or India, all mixed up together. The majority are Asian, but sometimes we have Europeans as well. It’s a very interesting mix. We also do outbound travel from the U.S. to Asia. We work with land receptors in different areas of China.”

The company has broadened its tour offerings. “We do a lot of special themed tours,” said Chen, “such as photography tours for photographer clubs in Shanghai or other parts of China. We hosted a group of teachers recently who had a special interest in ancient cultures, in this case native American cultures. It was one of the most interesting themed tours I have personally been on. It was really a transformation process for myself. I was surprised to find there are groups like that in China that are here just to study the native, indigenous cultures.”

The group visited a Navajo reservation, met with the president of Navajo nation and with a medicine man.

“We were led into what they call a hogan, a building made of wood, mortar and stone,” said Chen. “We sat in there in the round on what was pretty much rocky ground with a roof on top of us and talked about their world views, their spiritual life, their traditions, what it’s like to be a medicine man.”

Chen often joins the tours and feels he learns as much from the clients as they do from him. He is happily surprised to hear comments about how positive they are about what they experience.

"They get exposed to clean air and water and that’s the number one thing they rave about, especially folks from the cities like Shanghai or Beijing. They’ll say, ‘Look at the sky! It’s so blue.’"

“I frequently interact with these folks who visit from China and I get their feedback,” said Chen. “Almost all of the feedback will be very positive. Most will say something nice about how the environment is so clean. They get exposed to clean air and water and that’s the number one thing they rave about, especially folks from the cities like Shanghai or Beijing. They’ll say, ‘Look at the sky! It’s so blue.’”

The Chinese visitors are curious about everything. “They’re eager to know and learn more about the culture,” said Chen. “They rave about how the traffic is all set up. I know many cities have heavy congestion, but you can’t believe the kind of traffic that they go through in places like Beijing.

“They are impressed how there’s an order to things here. For example they would say, ‘Look, they actually stop at red lights’ or ‘Everybody stops at a stop sign letting the other car go first,’ whereas in China you might not have that kind of order unless there’s someone there to direct the traffic.

“Most of the Chinese visitors come to believe that America’s a real good place to raise a family and make a living. They may comment about how in America everyone is home in the evening and there’s not a lot to do, whereas in China maybe there’s more night life, more social life. But they would also say that it is good that there’s quietness during the evening so folks can spend time with the family, slow down and enjoy the time after the day. In China it could be busy till very late at night. I find that the Chinese tourists really appreciate some things that many of us here are not appreciating.”

The change in visa policies last October that expanded Chinese visas from one year to 10 years is spurring even more tourism from China. Previously visitors tried to take in the whole U.S. in one trip because they probably would not return. The previous policy discouraged Chinese who lived in second-tier cities from traveling to Beijing, Shanghai or Guangzho to apply for a one-year visa knowing they may be turned down anyway.

“It’s still early in the process but I have a good feeling that things are going to change,” said Chen. “I’m very optimistic about Chinese tourists coming over for the second and third time and being able to go more in depth and really experience the culture and what America has to offer. Previously they would have to just scan through it because they would have two weeks to do the east coast and the west coast. It would be a rush all the way, with long days, early starts and late nights. They would pretty much just zip through everything and take pictures and go.”

Chen is particularly inspired by the positive reactions of the Chinese to America because for him it is about more than making money. Chen believes that tourism is a force that promotes international understanding.

“I feel that it is great that they could appreciate the ideals and culture of America and they can go back and spread the word to their friends and family about it. What you can get out of a tour sometimes surpasses what you can read on the Internet or in books.

“I think the greatest reward is when you have a lot of folks go back and they have these memories of a lifetime that you helped create. It’s knowing another culture and being there as a bridge between the east and west. I want to try and utilize my skills, because I was born in Taiwan and pretty much grew up here. I have insights on both sides. I’m familiar with two cultures, and being in this industry I feel it is my duty to contribute and to become a bridge, hopefully to give a lot more folks another side of the story rather than the ones we get from the news, a first-hand story that they experience and see and feel for themselves rather than read it.”

Some of the most pressing world problems, such as pollution leading to climate change, can only be solved through international cooperation, which must begin with mutual understanding, says Chen.

"On a business and a personal level, to enable people, anybody, just regular people to be all together on the bus learning about all this and then sharing — that brings understanding. That’s the first step of friendship."

“When we take them to the national parks, for example, they say, ‘My God this is so much wonder, they have clean air, clean water!’ Again and again they repeat these things. They are amazed at the way it is kept pristine and special. And they carry that special thing with them in their hearts when they go back. They could be just in any common business or they could be officials or very influential people, you never know.

“They could influence things after they bring back those new thoughts, new memories and new understanding. So how great is it if I am in a job where I can help to do that? On a business and a personal level, to enable people, anybody, just regular people to be all together on the bus learning about all this and then sharing — that brings understanding. That’s the first step of friendship — friendship between two cultures, between the east and the west. When you learn from each other, how beautiful is that? I think there’s meaning to what we do.”

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